A quick 15 minute ferry to Sakurajima an active volcano. A ferry leaves every 15 mins 24hr/day taking cars, buses and walk ons. No sooner had we boarded, we were moving and getting off. The volcano was spewing plumes of ash as we boarded the ferry.

There is a road that circles the volcano only 36km that sounds good to us.

Along the way there are viewing platforms and trails – the views of Kagoshima and the volcano are great.

Everything is covered in a fine grey powder; this is ash from the volcano – something the locals have to live with. I have a slight gritty feeling in my mouth and skin. We see locals constantly sweeping the ash from the paths by their houses – I wonder what they do with it all?

Back by the port we soak our feet in the natural hot spring water of the “Sakurajima” Yogan Nagisa Park Footbath a treat for visitors.

A steady rain has started and we head off to have a specialty meal from the area. Shubu shubu – we got it all wrong – it looked nothing like we had imagined it to look on the menu picture all raw meats and the waiter mentioned sashimi, so we ordered another dish which ended up as chicken and vegetable soup … very nice, still hungry when we left and got Tiramasu from a Family Mart next to the hotel and had in our room. Further research there was a pot of boiling water with which to cook the meat in … shame there was a language barrier.

The rain is forecast to continue throughout the night.